In reply: Conspiracies aren't enough to defeat Barack Obama

Lt. Col. Orson Swindle III's recent letter urging readers to vote against President Barack Obama reinforces the very reasons why Obama will be re-elected in November.

Let me first say that I respect the service that Swindle gave to the nation.

The "reasons" he gives for opposing Obama, however, amount to little more than conspiracy theory opposition to a man who is viewed as the "other."

Swindle relies on the following emotional appeal: "Voting for Obama is a vote to abandon … our heritage, our character, our obligations and our future."

I am a registered Republican, but the party has left me no option but to vote for the Democrat in this race.

At one time, Republicans shared genuine concern about the deficit and proposed realistic alternatives to the special-interest-heavy Democrats.

RADICALS TAKE OVER GOP

Now all that is left of the Republicans is cultural bias. Today's Republicans are beholden to a radical right-wing fringe that blocks reasoned attempts at deficit reduction with a dogged opposition to anything resembling a tax increase.

President George W. Bush initiated two foreign wars, wars that I personally supported. He and a Republican Congress refused to pay for the wars.

He increased social spending on a new Medicare drug program (also a good idea) but once again decided to pay for the program with deficit spending.

In fact, the right wing in this country heralded the era of "big government conservatism."

Naturally the deficit exploded when the recession hit as revenues decreased and greater numbers of people relying on government safety net programs compounded the underfunding of the Bush-era budgets.

Yet the only source of deficit spending the tea party leaders of the GOP recognize is the $800 billion stimulus plan (including tax cuts to try to appease conservatives) that Obama instituted.

They fail to recall that no Republican proposed to reduce the deficit and instead the Republican Party proposed only more tax cuts, which would have further increased the deficit.

Mitt Romney now advocates a cut in the tax rate while at the same time vowing to reduce unspecified tax deductions, explaining that his plans will be "revenue neutral."

Beyond the question of "why do it?" if his tax proposal will not change revenue, the scariest part of his program is that the only deductions that could be reduced are ones essential to our economy - home mortgage, college costs and charitable donations.

Of course, Republicans now oppose "Obamacare" despite the fact that it is almost exactly the same program championed by the right in the early '90s and mirrors what Romney himself helped create in his own state.

During the debate over health care, Republicans proposed no alternatives and instead merely tried to block any effort to address this country's problematic health care system.

The fact remains that the program is an effort to obtain greater private insurance coverage through incentives and penalties to attempt to reduce the runaway costs of caring for the uninsured.

It isn't perfect, but constructive dialogue by Republicans to improve the plan would have served the public interest better than politically motivated opposition.

GOP PROPOSALS AREN'T REALISTIC

Republicans have provided no realistic alternatives, and every independent analysis of the Romney-Ryan budget plan concludes it would increase the deficit.

Essentially, the Republican criticism boils down to: Don't re-elect a president who has failed to immediately fix our economic problems when we created the problems in the first place and have done everything possible to thwart him at every turn.

While lionizing President Ronald Reagan, his willingness to compromise with Democrats and raise taxes when necessary would prevent him from being nominated for dogcatcher in today's radicalized Republican party.

Swindle's letter reflects the same misguided beliefs contained in the many unsolicited and factually incorrect emails I regularly receive, claiming some Obama secret plot to ruin America.

I frequently ask myself, "Who sits around making this stuff up?"

Unfortunately, the truth is that the Republicans have offered no legitimate options, and their only argument remaining is a cultural aversion to the person of Barack Obama.

Without more, the GOP has made itself irrelevant and illegitimate.

Tad Delegal is a lawyer in Jacksonville.

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